Leningrad region cleaning up hurricane aftermath.

MOSCOW, August 16 (Itar-Tass) -- The Leningrad Region is cleaning up
the aftermath of a thunderstorm, which was followed by the squall with the
gusts of wind up to 25-30 meters per second.
"The thunderstorm fell down a considerable number of trees that
hampered the motor traffic and partially train traffic," a source in the
main EMERCOM department in the Leningrad Region told Itar-Tass. Alongside,
rolling power outages took place in seven districts of the Leningrad
Region.
A strong hurricane hampered the train traffic on two sections of the
Oktyabrskaya Railway. "These sections are the Luga-Stroganovo and
Tikhvin-Babayevo lines," a source in the Russian Railways Company (RZD)
told Itar-Tass on Sunday.
A strong thunderstorm cut the power supply from the traction
substations providing for the train traffic on the railway sections
Vyritsa-Oredezh, Luga-Stroganovo, Volkhovstroy-Babayevo and on the St.
Petersburg-Moscow main line on the Torfyanoye-Tosno section, the RZD
source said.
The train traffic was resumed on all sections of the railway, but
traffic delays are probable on two sections Luga-Stroganovo and
Tikhvin-Babayevo.
The railway personnel ask passengers to specify the time of arrival
and departure of trains in advance.
The main EMERCOM department in the Leningrad Region has deployed an
operational headquarters. Emergency groups headed by the chiefs of the
local firefighting garrisons are working in the natural disaster area.

.Patriarch prays for homeless fire victims in Vladimir region.

VILLAGE MAKHRA (Vladimir region), August 16 (Itar-Tass) -- Patriarch
of Moscow and All Russia Kirill visited the Vladimir Region on Sunday to
support people, who are suffering from wildfires triggered by drought. The
Russian supreme hierarch officiated a divine liturgy and consecrated a new
Holy Trinity Church at the Monastery of St. Stephen of Makhra, 15
kilometers away from the city of Alexandrov.
The patriarch noted the work of thousands of volunteers, who help to
deliver relief supplies and to put out fires. "I believe that all what had
happened helped all of us very much to understand how important solidarity
is without which the life of the human society is impossible. If our
people, particularly our young people, react to the pain of those who are
suffering now it is a very good sign. Pray God for all of us to build up
unity and solidarity," the Russian patriarch said.
Some 80 houses burnt down in the Vladimir Region. Metropolitan of
Vladimir and Suzdal Yevlogy visited the homeless fire victims on the very
first day, when the villages started burning in the region. The local
eparchy gathers and delivers relief supplies to people in need. The
Synodal department for church charity sent several vehicles from Moscow.
In early August Patriarch Kirill visited the Nizhny Novgorod Region,
which was mostly damaged from wildfires and fire smoke.
The church charity department has gathered and delivered over 200
tonnes of relief supplies to seven regions in central Russia for two weeks
of raging wildfires.

.Wildfires in Mordovia national park partially put out.

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, August 16 (Itar-Tass) -- The fire situation in
Mordovia's national park and near Sarov is stable and controllable, chief
of the Volga River regional center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations
(EMERCOM) Igor Panshin said.
At a meeting of the operational headquarters on Sunday he summed up
the day results and noted that "the air reconnaissance that has been on
all day long showed that the fire situation is stable and controllable in
general and there are no fires in Sarov."
"The wildfire was put out completely in Mordovia's national park
southeast of the Sarov city protected frontier, forest fires in the west
and in the east are guarded," the chief of the Volga River EMERCOM center
said. If the positive tendency persists, servicemen fighting wildfires
will be partially withdrawn and a firefighting force working in Sarov will
be reduced this week. Currently a 1.2-kilometer-long water pipeline is
being laid down in north-eastern Sarov to provide water supplies for the
area on the northern frontiers of the protected forest area.
Aircraft working in Sarov were involved in the firefighting efforts on
Sunday in Mordovia's national park in the Pervomaisky district near the
settlement of Steklyanny. An additional fire-break was laid from the
railway line and six-meter-wide soil mineralized belts were made.
Servicemen of the Interior Troops, the Defence Ministry, EMERCOM
units, utility workers and employees of the federal nuclear center were
cleaning up the undergrowth, cut trees and bushes on Sunday, Panshin said.
A fire train remains in the firefighting force.

.Putin instructs to prevent emergency situations over cold front.

MOSCOW, August 16 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
instructed the governmental committee on prevention and cleanup of
emergency situations to take all necessary measures over the cold front
passing in the regions of North-Western, Central and Volga River Federal
Districts, the government press service reported on Monday.
"The instructions were given to clean up as soon as possible the
aftermath of the cold front and to restore the power supplies in the
settlements in the North-Western Federal District and to provide the
continuous work of medical and social institutions," the press service
specified.
The prime minister also got in touch with the governors of the
Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod and Vologda regions to discuss the current
situation.
Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Communications Minister Igor
Shchegolev, Minister of Health and Social Development Tatiana Golikova and
Transport Minister Igor Levitin reported by phone to the prime minister on
the measures taken to clean up the aftermath of a major thunderstorm.
-0-baz


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next